An Amazing Guy
by ebidebi
Summary: Persona 4. Hanging out with Kanji has been giving Rise some less than idol-like ideas, the worst of all being a possible crush. Spoilers for Rise and Kanji's max social links.


Rise hadn't intended to insult Kanji when she'd come to visit him that day. She meant to close up some loose ends to truly make up her mind about returning to her career as an idol. She had already told Souji that she would do it, and she was going to, but there were still a lot of things she wasn't sure about.

With Souji, everything was easy. He was a great listener, smart, funny, handsome, and a fantastic leader. He much always knew what to say, and could do no wrong in Rise's eyes. It seemed like everyone loved him.

Kanji made things more complicated. His tough-guy attitude and clumsy manner could be charming, but also annoying. He was pretty slow to understand things, and he was terrible with women.

Still, they had grown fairly close, being in the same class and spending so much time together, but there was still so much she didn't know about him, and something was bothering her.

Somewhere inside, Rise knew she and Souji couldn't have a romantic relationship. He was an ideal to her, and she didn't want to ruin it. They were as close as friends could be, so it didn't bother her. Rise typically didn't let things bother her, anyhow.

There was just something about Kanji that she just couldn't figure out, and she thought about it more than she cared to admit. In addition, spending time with him made her think things that were very unbecoming for an idol. Maybe he was starting to rub off on her. She had come very close to pulling the fire alarm, had cussed out her old manager, and worst of all, she thought she was developing feelings for Kanji.

She was totally fine with liking him as a friend, but it just didn't seem right to like him in a romantic way. It just didn't seem like something she should feel. Besides, it was pretty obvious that Kanji wasn't interested in her. Maybe that was what frustrated her the most. It was childish to get hung up on a person who wasn't at all interested.

But EVERY guy was interested in her. She was Risette! It seemed like Kanji was the only person impervious to her idol charms. Maybe that was why she felt like she did. It was endearing and infuriating at the same time. He certainly wasn't impervious to her femininity, but Kanji could hardly handle being around girls at all.

But she still wanted to see how he reacted to her decision. As friends, or whatever.

"Hey, Kanji!" Rise called in forced cheerfulness, arriving at his family's store. She was still wearing her uniform from the tofu shop.

"Oh, h-hey Rise," Kanji replied, hastily shoving something fabric and scissors under the counter he was sitting behind. He probably wasn't supposed to be sitting on the job, anyhow. As Rise entered the store, something caught her eye.

Rows and rows of cute, elaborate dolls were lined up neatly on a table by the counter. There were bunnies, kitties, puppies, monkeys, and all sorts of cute animals, each with bows and ribbons and adorable faces. Rise let out a squeal.

"Ooooh, Kanji, these are so cute!" she cried.

Kanji swallowed hard. "You think so? They're for sale. I, err…I made them," he choked out, a blush taking over his cheeks. Rise was taken aback.

"Really?" she replied. She studied him hard. Kanji never ceased to surprise her, but this was just another reason why he was just so wrong for her. "That's kind of creepy."

It had already escaped her lips before she realized how mean it sounded. But he didn't like her anyway, so who cared if she hurt his feelings?

Kanji looked pretty angry for a minute, but he took a deep breath, like he was thinking something over. "I made one for this dumb kid who lost his friend's toy, and suddenly everyone wanted one, and now we sell 'em here. What's wrong with a guy who likes to sew? 'n I'm damn good at it, too, look." He pointed her toward an intricate wall hanging behind him with a traditional Japanese scene of sakura. "I made that. And these," he said, running to the other side of room and grabbing a fist full of embroidered handkerchiefs out of a basket. "And half the stuff in this store! And my own clothes! You got a problem with that?"

Truthfully, Rise didn't. It was kind of amazing, seeing all the things Kanji had made. She had always assumed that his mother did everything, but it was clear that Kanji was a skilled artist. She had thought they were friends, but she hadn't even known about what was clearly his favorite hobby. She'd had her suspicious, but once she saw the things he had made, it was just a little bit painful. Why did he have to be so talented? Why did she have a crush on him? Why did her confidence always seem so far away when she was alone with him? Why did he have to like Naoto?

"No, I don't. Maybe you are an amazing guy after all, Kanji," Rise replied. She knew he was.

"Tch," he muttered. "What did you want, anyway?" He sounded annoyed, but he seemed somewhat relieved, and he wasn't blushing anymore.

"Uhhh…" Rise stammered. Suddenly, she didn't see a point in talking to him about her decision. She doubted he cared if she went or not, and she was beginning to feel the same way she felt just after coming to Inaba. She just wanted to get away, so she made up a reason and pointed at a roll of fabric. "How much does that white fabric cost? My grandma needs a new apron."

"She wants a silk apron?" Kanji asked, confused.

"I meant the cotton, sorry," she said.

"Oh." Kanji didn't seem to think anything of her blunder. "No charge for a friend, I'll make one and have it ready by Thursday."

Rise thought she could handle anything, but none of the Rises inside of her understood why she felt how she did now. She had already faced her true self, but now she couldn't face him.

"Thanks… That's really sweet of you, Kanji. I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Kanji was a sweet guy. "See you in school," she said quietly, taking her leave.

***

On Thursday, a package from Tatsumi Textiles came while Rise was running the tofu shop. When she opened it, there was one of the cute, elaborate bunnies sitting on top of the neatly folded (and flawlessly stitched) apron. She definitely didn't remember seeing this bunny in the store. It was a pink bunny with long eyelashes, dressed a bright yellow sundress with lace on the bottom, and it held a felt microphone in one paw. A small tag was attached to its other paw, reading "For Rise."

Rise smiled and tucked the bunny into her pocket for safe-keeping and started to prepare a package of ganmodoki and silken tofu as thanks. She would have to think of something to give Kanji, too, something irreplaceable like the bunny. A signed photo just didn't seem appropriate, but she was sure she would think of something. She wouldn't be in Inaba much longer, so it was probably a bad idea to delve any further into her thoughts about Kanji, but when she left, she didn't want to look back.

***

It was Kanji's turn to receive a delivery the next day. It was a fancy box full of delicious-looking tofu and ganmodoki from the Marukyu. In one of the compartments of the box, there was a small pouch that caught Kanji's attention. The words "thank you" were written on the front in Rise's girly handwriting. He turned the pouch upside down over the counter and out fell a small, soft, white cube that seemed to be full of beans, and a folded piece of paper. He picked up the cube and turned it over in his hands. One of the sides had a cute smiling face, and there was a skull and crossbones on one of the other sides. It wasn't particularly well made, but he gathered that it was supposed to be a block of tofu. He let out a chuckle. It was pretty cute, for an amateur.

Kanji sat the bean bag tofu on the table and picked up the paper. It took him a minute to figure out how to unfold the note. It read:

_Kanji,_

_Thanks for everything. I've decided to go back to my career as an idol this spring. I know my sewing isn't as good as yours, but I hope you like Tofu Kanji-chan! No matter where life takes us, we'll always be friends._

_Love,_

_Rise_

No one had ever signed a note for him with "love" before. Who would have thought the first person to do it would be an idol? Kanji didn't understand why Rise hadn't just told him these things in person, but then again, he didn't understand most of the things girls did.

One thing was for sure, though - Rise didn't hate him for being himself. But for some reason, Kanji couldn't fight this nagging feeling that things would have been easier if she did hate him.


End file.
